Stories by Ashley Rodriguez

What does evil look like? Just ask Frank Meeink, who became a skinhead at age 13, and spent years struggling with the demons inside him—the ones that caused him to pick fights for no reason, sometimes beating his victims senseless. It took incarceration to help him turn his life around, a life that was captured in the film, American History X.

13-year-old Emma Halpern of San Diego is fighting the cycle of poverty through inspiring a love of reading in her low income peers. Read on to see how this visionary teen is starting a book club trend in an area high school.

One Book, One San Diego is highlighting a local book club each month and sharing their findings with Culture Lust. The first featured book club is called the San Diego Risteners, a group that prefers the audio version of their selections. Clare Pister and Ashley Rodriguez explain.